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Will Sonnett had crossed a great deal of country looking for his son.
Jeff Sonnett had crossed most of it with him.
Neither had ever crossed paths with a self-propelled teapot.
Until Tuesday.
The teapot rolled into camp shortly after dawn.
Jeff reached for his gun.
Will did not.
The teapot stopped beside the fire.
Its lid opened.
“TEA?”
Jeff stared.
Will scratched his beard.
“Well. That’s hospitable.”
Wallace came running over the hill.
“Wait!”
Gromit followed at a much more sensible pace.
Wallace reached the camp, bent over, and tried to catch his breath.
“Sorry. Experimental breakfast service.”
Will looked at the teapot.
“You make that?”
“I did.”
“Why?”
Wallace blinked.
“For tea.”
Will nodded slowly.
“Fair enough.”
They were heading toward a town called Red Rock, where Will had heard another rumor about Jim Sonnett.
Wallace and Gromit were also going to Red Rock because Wallace had accepted a commission to install an automated refreshment system in the hotel.
Jeff glanced at Gromit.
“Does trouble follow him?”
Gromit nodded.
“Thought so.”
Red Rock was controlled by Asa Vale, a local businessman who had bought the sheriff, intimidated the merchants, and discovered that Jim Sonnett had once passed through town.
Vale used the information as bait.
He wanted Will.
Not because of Jim.
Because Will had embarrassed Vale’s brother years earlier in a gunfight.
Will listened to the explanation without much reaction.
Jeff did enough reacting for both of them.
Wallace was in the hotel kitchen when Vale’s men arrived.
“Mr. Sonnett,” Vale called from the street. “Come out.”
Wallace looked through the window.
“Oh dear.”
Gromit was already moving.
Vale had six men.
Will had Jeff.
Wallace had a teapot.
This should not have been even.
It was.
Gromit rolled beneath the hotel counter and adjusted Wallace’s Automatic Breakfast Conveyor.
Outside, Vale smiled.
“You’re getting old, Sonnett.”
Will stepped into the street.
“Been old awhile.”
“You still fast?”
Will shrugged.
“No brag. Just fact.”
Jeff smiled despite himself.
Then the hotel doors burst open.
Toast flew into the street.
Everyone ducked.
A mechanical serving cart shot between Vale’s men.
“TEA?”
One outlaw fired at it.
The bullet hit the release lever.
The cart accelerated.
“TEA?”
It struck another outlaw behind the knees.
Jeff laughed.
Will drew.
Three guns hit the dirt before Vale understood what had happened.
The remaining men ran.
Vale grabbed Wallace, who had wandered outside trying to retrieve the cart.
“Don’t move!”
Wallace raised his hands.
“Oh, not again.”
Will’s eyes narrowed.
Gromit appeared behind Vale carrying the runaway teapot.
Vale never saw him.
The teapot’s spout rotated.
A jet of hot - but thankfully not boiling - tea sprayed Vale’s gun hand.
He yelped and dropped the weapon.
Wallace ducked.
Jeff tackled Vale.
Will holstered his gun.
“Useful teapot.”
Wallace brightened.
“Thank you!”
Gromit unplugged it.
Later, they learned Jim had indeed been in Red Rock.
He had left months earlier.
Another trail.
Another town.
Will accepted this quietly.
Wallace sat beside him on the hotel porch.
“Must be difficult.”
Will looked toward the road.
“Family generally is.”
Wallace nodded.
Gromit sat at Wallace’s feet.
Jeff came outside carrying four cups.
Will took one.
“You got family, Wallace?”
Wallace looked at Gromit.
“Yes.”
Gromit glanced up.
Will smiled.
“Good answer.”
The teapot twitched.
Gromit immediately put one paw on it.
Jeff laughed.
“Think it’s trying to escape again.”
Wallace frowned.
“Nonsense. It hasn’t got anywhere to go.”
Will looked down the long road west.
“Sometimes that doesn’t stop anybody.”